In Valencia, famous for its gastronomy, there was much food for thought last
night from Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, who launched a stern defence
of why he was rotating his squad so widely — but why none of his older
players should be written off.

“I am not being brave,” Villas-Boas countered when asked why the likes of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba can no longer be regarded as automatic choices. “It’s for the benefit of the team.”

Villas-Boas denied there was a message being sent out through his refreshing approach in which the squad is, basically, rotated fully as his club fight on all fronts.

“I’m not telling people anything,” he explained. “You’ve got it wrong. It’s about choices for the team. Nothing wrong with it — the fact that players are changing, out-in, how they will react to changed situations. We all see things as team objectives.”

He said he did not know whether his approach was better, adding: "Chelsea have been very successful [in the past]. At the moment what we manage is a squad ready to challenge. We are three points behind the leaders [of the Premier League] and challenging for all competitions. Team selection is part of the most natural thing in the world.” It is indeed. Which is, also, why it is discussed so widely.

Having previously made accusations that there was an “obsession” about Fernando Torres, he is making similar claims about Lampard, who has started only one of Chelsea’s last four matches and cannot be regarded as a definite starter for tonight’s Champions League tie away to Valencia.

Not so long ago such a situation, with Lampard fit, would be unthinkable at Chelsea. But the midfielder is now 33 and there does not need to be any great drama to either him not playing so regularly, being managed through a season or even adapting his style of play.

Villas-Boas, whose squad finally arrived yesterday after a four-hour delay and changing planes because of a mechanical fault, was dismissive of the discussion: “It’s not a question of dramatic change in what’s happening. It’s not taking the case where you want to make it – that these players are finishing. That’s not true.

“Frank is an established, top-quality player and one of the most important at the club and will continue to be. He has nothing to prove to the football world and will continue to show that. He is a spectacular team player and professional and he will continue to succeed in this club for many years to come and for as long as I am here. He’s a big player for Chelsea and England.”

Having not played against Swansea City in the Premier League on Saturday, will Lampard start this evening? “It depends on the strategy we want to use,” was Villas-Boas’s flat-batted response. “I make choices like any manager does. There is nothing unusual in that.” Except, at Chelsea, there is. One of Villas-Boas’s predecessors, Jose Mourinho, a man he knows well of course, started the notion of the “untouchables” at the club and through successive new coaches little of that has changed.

Carlo Ancelotti knew that the squad needed to evolve, but perhaps was not given the time of backing, while the theory persists from those close to Chelsea that one reason why Villas-Boas was selected — ahead of Guus Hiddink — was that he was identified as the man more capable of making the changes.

The arrival of Raul Meireles, Oriol Romeu, Romelu Lukaku (although not eligible for the Champions League group stages) and, above all, Juan Mata, who tonight makes an emotional return to the club he left last month for £27 million, has given Villas-Boas the opportunity to change things around. “I wanted to add competence to the squad,” he said. “It’s about competence and we have that at all levels in the squad. What I dispute is that it’s 26 players for 11 places. What is the dramatic thing here?”

Not dramatic, perhaps, but certainly revolutionary. “I’m not taking it personally, but will continue all the way,” he said. “Everyone is part of the team and the success of the team, and all are proven at this club and other clubs . I just go on managing my team. The biggest challenge is motivating everybody as they all want to play and compete for place.”

Valencia, having drawn their opening Group E game, away to Genk, while Chelsea beat Bayer Leverkusen, will be dangerous opponents who have lost just one of their last 10 matches under their impressive young coach Unai Emery, a friend of Villas-Boas.